Finance
Factbox-Private equity and sovereign wealth funds revive large leveraged buyouts
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 29, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 29, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Leveraged buyouts are resurging, driven by private equity and sovereign funds, targeting tech and media companies amid cheap debt markets.
(Reuters) -Leveraged buyouts are making a strong comeback after years of muted activity, fueled by private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds targeting high-profile technology, media and consumer companies.
The resurgence underscores cheap debt markets, abundant dry powder and a search for stable cash flows amid public market volatility, culminating in deals such as the proposed $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts by Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners.
A leveraged buyout, or LBO, is a deal in which a company is acquired largely with borrowed money.
The following are the biggest leveraged buyouts on record:
Target Acquirer Deal Value Announced Post-LBO
($ billion) Date Status
Atlantia SpA Blackstone Inc $46.36 14-Apr-22 In 2023,
Edizione SpA Italy's
Atlantia
changed its
name to
Mundys as it
aimed to
become the
biggest
infrastructur
e group
globally
TXU Corp Kohlberg Kravis $43.80 26-Feb-07 Energy Future
Roberts & Co (IBO) Holdings,
Goldman Sachs formerly TXU
Capital Partners Corp, filed
Texas Pacific Group for
bankruptcy in
2014 after it
failed to
meet its debt
obligations
as
electricity
prices
weakened
HCA Inc Bain Capital LP $32.68 24-Jul-06 HCA became a
Kohlberg Kravis publicly
Roberts & Co traded
Merrill Lynch company in
Global Private 2010 for the
Equity Inc third time in
its history.
It now
commands a
nearly $100
billion
valuation
Medline Blackstone Inc $30 05-Jun-21 Years after
Industries Carlyle Group Inc its leveraged
Inc Hellman & Friedman buyout,
LLC Medline is
GIC Pte Ltd eyeing to go
public in New
York
ALLTEL Corp TPG Capital LP $27.87 21-May-07 Alltel was
Goldman Sachs absorbed by
Capital Partners Verizon,
which bought
the wireless
carrier for
$28.1 billion
in 2009
First Data Kohlberg Kravis $27.73 02-Apr-07 Relisted in
Corp Roberts & Co (IBO) 2015;
Acquired by
Fiserv in
2019 in a $22
billion
all-stock
deal
HJ Heinz Co Berkshire Hathaway $27.50 14-Feb-13 Merged with
Inc Kraft Foods
3G Capital Inc in 2015 to
form The
Kraft Heinz
Company.
Kraft Heinz
announced in
September
plans to undo
the merger,
after years
of dwindling
growth
Air Lease Sumitomo Corp $27.47 02-Sep-25 Deal expected
Corp Apollo Asset to close in
Management Inc first half of
Brookfield Asset 2026
Management Ltd
Sumitomo Mitsui
Financial Group Inc
SMBC Aviation
Capital Ltd
Harrah's Apollo Management $27.40 02-Oct-06 Renamed to
Entertainment LP Caesars
Inc Texas Pacific Group Entertainment
in 2010;
relisted in
2012 and
continues to
trade on the
Nasdaq under
the ticker
CZR. Valued
at nearly
$5.62 billion
Hilton Hotels Blackstone Inc $25.80 03-Jul-07 Relisted in
Corp 2013 and
continues to
trade on NYSE
under the
ticker HLT.
Valued at
nearly $61.56
billion,
according to
LSEG data
SOURCE: Dealogic
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil, Ateev Bhandari and Anuj T in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
A leveraged buyout, or LBO, is a deal in which a company is acquired largely with borrowed money.
The resurgence is fueled by cheap debt markets, abundant dry powder, and a search for stable cash flows amid public market volatility.
One of the largest recent leveraged buyouts is the proposed $55 billion takeover of a high-profile technology company.
Private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds are primarily targeting these high-profile leveraged buyouts.
Atlantia SpA was acquired by Blackstone Inc for $46.36 billion, and it changed its name to Mundys as it aimed to become the biggest infrastructure group globally.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
